Igor Fraga and the power of Esports

Image courtesy of www.gran-turismo.com

Hello you, my name is Luca but you can call me Luca. Meet Igor Fraga, he's a 20-year old Brazilian racing driver, he was Brazilian F3 Academy Class champion in 2017, runner-up in Mexican F4 and finished fourth in U.S. F2000 last year. He's a bloody good driver, but you've read the title and yes, video games and virtual racing have played a huge part in his career.

The first I ever heard of Igor Fraga was when he participated in the inaugural F1 Esports, where he qualified for the final and went to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in order to compete. Unfortunately, he didn't do that well but it showed the crossover was becoming ever closer, as Fraga only ever got involved with the event as a result of having to learn the Mexican Grand Prix track for an upcoming F4 race. Little did he suspect I reckon, where that would lead for him.

Fraga would go on to compete in the FIA Certified Online world championships, which took place on the new Gran Turismo Sport game. Having qualified, Fraga would start turning some heads as he came out on top in the Americas final thus becoming Americas regional champion, and be allowed to compete in the world finals in Monaco last November.

Firstly, he was paired up with his European and Asia-Pacific counterparts Mikail Hizal of Germany and Ryoto Kokubun of Japan as they had all signed in-game with Nissan and thus were Nissan's drivers in the manufacturers final, which didn't go their way unfortunately. But when it came to the nation's final, the individuals championship, Fraga was a man on a mission.

Having won the first race in road cars, he'd come close to winning race two which took place in GT3-style racing cars but would make a mess of it near the end and lost a few places. He had even more of a disaster in the third race which took place in Le Mans style prototype cars, making major errors and thus finishing 11th which meant he would be starting there for the final race.

All hope seemed lost for the Brazilian, but they were now using one of Fraga's favourite cars, the Red Bull X2014 Standard around the full Le Mans Sarthe circuit, and a race I saw and immediately beforehand called it even with as hopeless as it seemed for young Igor. He put in the drive of a lifetime and was in a championship winning position even before overtaking his team mate from the day before and now championship rival Mikail Hizal.

Fraga was taking certain corners at speeds on the least grippiest tyres faster than those on the best tyres, he was defying the virtual physics of Gran Turismo, and yes before you berate me for continuing to deprive you of the answer, yes he did win the race and thus became FIA Certified Online Gran Turismo world champion! Igor Fraga couldn't possibly do better than that could he? Oh yes he can.

Literally a couple of months after wrapping up the Gran Turismo championship, Fraga went on to compete in the McLaren Shadow project final. A test which put a bunch of aspiring Esports racers through their paces, demonstrating physical and psychological evaluation and then also proving their worth on a vast variety of different racing games in order to win a place on McLaren's Esports team.

This included driving IndyCar 2018 on iRacing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the McLaren P1 GTR on Forza Motorsport at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, hotlapping on a mobile tablet at Hockenheim in a McLaren 720S on Real Racing 3, again using the 720S but on Project CARS 2 at Circuit of the Americas equipped with a virtual reality headset, rFactor 2 in 720S GT3 cars around Silverstone and the grand final would be the final three again on rFactor 2 in the 720S GT3 cars around Sebring.

Throughout the final's races, all of Fraga's competitors proved where their strengths laid with some being great at some games and some just not being able to adapt to others, yet Igor continued to finish there or there abouts on every game and rarely was ever outside the top three, incredible consistency. He went into the final race at Sebring the outright favourite and guess what? He didn't disappoint, and won the event with incredible ease and earned a place on McLaren's Esports team.

Now what does this prove in terms of the power of Esports exactly? Well I'll tell you. Before Esports came along, Fraga didn't have a hope in hell in finding a budget or sponsors to race in Europe, but as a direct result of his success on Gran Turismo and earning his place on the McLaren Shadow team, it was announced a couple of days ago that Igor Fraga would be racing in a single seater series in Europe.

Image courtesy of www.formulascout.com

Fraga is racing for DR Formula by RP Motorsport in the inaugural Formula Regional European championship (horrendous name I know, essentially it's the new European F3). As you can see his car is decorated with Gran Turismo and McLaren Shadow branding.

The crossover between real world and virtual driving is closing ever more. We've seen drivers start out on video games, such as GT Academy winner Jann Mardenborough, we have also had events where real world drivers cross over into virtual driving such as the Las Vegas eRace where Formula E drivers raced sim racers which saw now McLaren Esports driver Bono Huis fend off the advances of then Formula E racer Felix Rosenqvist.

McLaren are no strangers to the whole Esports scene, having held another competition in 2017 called World's Fastest Gamer which saw drivers being tested in a similar way to the Shadow Project and the winner was kitchen sales manager Rudy van Buren, who became their official simulator test and development driver. Having won karting championships in his local Netherlands but having to give it up since he couldn't string together a budget and sponsorship to continue his career.

The incredible Race of Champions event opened up its doors for gamers to potentially race real drivers in 2018 with its eRace of Champions with the winner joining WFG winner van Buren in driving real cars against established racing champions. Rudy van Buren even managed to beat McLaren's current driver Lando Norris in one of the heats.

He was joined by now McLaren Esports driver Enzo Bonito, who would go on to compete also a year later and beat established racing champions such as 2012 IndyCar champion Ryan Hunter-Reay, and 2016-17 FIA Formula E champion Lucas di Grassi.

Going back to seeing real world drivers taking virtual racing seriously, Lando Norris and Red Bull F1 driver Max Verstappen have been competing in a few one off endurance races on platforms such as iRacing and rFactor, even being co-drivers in the iRacing Bathurst 12 hours. Although that race was rather ill-fated, the exposure that resulted from their presence made people start to take notice.

We even are starting to see drivers sign themselves to Esports racing teams, such as Norris and Verstappen being affiliated with Team Redline, and Fernando Alonso forming his own Esports team and signing eWTCC champion Alexander Dornieden, McLaren Shadow project finalists Xiang Gao and Ebrahim Al Mubarak and even a real world driver, British GT4 and MRF Challenge champion Jamie Chadwick.

Now every racing championship it seems is adopting their own official Esports championships, and it's no surprise to see why. With how expensive motorsport is becoming, now is the time for Esports to be recognised as a legitimate means for drivers to keep sharp and hone their craft, because with the exception of the heavy physical and G-Force elements of the real world driving, the skills required for real world driving are pretty much there for the virtual racing.

Obviously it differs with every game, I can't imagine the next F1 champion or 24 hours of Le Mans winner will begin their career as a result of being amazing on Mario Kart but I suppose you all have to start somewhere!

But jokes aside, this is what Igor Fraga has proved. Esports can provide you a major platform in car racing, since the skills required are the same, and buying a nice TV, steering wheel, frame and chair is going to be considerably less expensive than a season in a karting championship with all the tools and equipment needed, now is the time for Esports to be taken seriously in a motorsport and car racing context.

Virtual racing could potentially become a new grassroots of motorsport, for drivers looking to appeal for sponsorship. Igor Fraga has proved through his success as Gran Turismo world champion and the winner of the McLaren Shadow project final that it's possible that you can use video gaming and virtual driving as a means to get into real life car racing.

One day, we will have a world champion in F1 and an overall winner at the Le Mans 24 hours who will have had their career happen as a result of planting their ass on a sofa and playing a video game. Car racing is the only sport I reckon where the virtual version works as well as the real version. I can't say that about football, because you aren't moving your legs in order to kick the ball and pass it, you're controlling the other players.

I unfortunately cannot say the same thing about motorcycle racing either, since that involves a way lot more direct body movement and when I saw the MotoGP Esports, the players were using controllers and were literally throwing their bikes into corners because they wouldn't have to worry about what the laws of physics would do to their bodies and thus were going multiple seconds faster than the real world riders could manage.

Car racing in real life and in the virtual world, are very close to each other and because of the lesser amount of expenses involved, it's becoming a serious option for drivers to consider a real world driving career.

Hope you all enjoyed my article. If you did and want to stick around for more articles, either follow me on Twitter @TheLucaFormat or if you're on desktop, go to the 'Follow By Email' option on the right hand of screen and put your email in there, which will then mean that all blog posts I publish will be sent straight to your inbox.

So until we meet again,

L.

The Prototype - book review

Image courtesy of www.amazon.com

Hello you, my name is Luca but you can call me Luca. So a few months ago, I saw an article on GTPlanet about an upcoming release, a novel called 'The Prototype' which had the seal of approval from the creator of the Gran Turismo driving games Kazunori Yamauchi himself, so immediately I was intrigued. So I did some research, and found some information about the author, Sam Mitani.

The first Asian-American writer at 'Road & Track' - one of the big three American automotive publications - and having led a charge of Asian-American representation within the automotive journalism industry, he's now turned his attention to fiction. He's very much incorporated his 20 years of experience into this debut novel, and I am here to tell you all about it because it's absolutely brilliant.

So what's The Prototype about? The main character is an Asian-American automotive journalist and gamer named Stockton Clay, who isn't well respected by his co-workers and is a tad down on his luck. He then receives a formal request directly from Tetsuro Kanda, the head of the world leading automotive manufacturer Kamita Motors, to attend an announcement about the future of Kamita Motors, which includes the launch of a secret prototype supercar.

However unbeknownst to Stockton, once he arrives at the location of the big Kamita Motors reveal, an attempt is made on his life and he is caught in the middle of the conflict between the CIA and a mad Russian scientist who is on the verge of upsetting the balance of world power. As Stockton fights for his survival, he discovers unknown things about his life, including his true identity.

Alright so if you've got the book, you'll know I essentially copied the summary of the plot on the back of the book but you have to admit, it really gets you invested, doesn't it? Well I can happily report that the story doesn't disappoint.

One thing I will say about The Prototype is, not trying to say it's predictable or formulaic because it isn't, but something of this sort of story and nature being so attached to a lot of elements I can identify with as a automotive and motorsport enthusiast, it really appeals to me. Just to deviate for a moment, back in 2013 when I saw the movie Rush, seeing the story I knew so well being shown in a way that made it appealing to anyone who wasn't necessarily into motorsport, I appreciated that so much. The Prototype evoked those same feelings that Rush did, with my automotive and motorsport wired mind being able to share it with someone who isn't necessarily into any of that stuff. It opens a door for that sort of thing to be possible, and I have to commend Mitani for that.

Something that Mitani does which I love is how deep he goes into describing very minor details, he definitely takes his experience from being an automotive journalist and pours it into this. He's describing the kind of leather a seat has in a helicopter, or he's having the character remember very specific things about whatever model of vehicle he's in that it would have a spare luggage compartment in a stated area in the model.

Also when he is describing the cars themselves and how they behave, even when the car is a Kamita and therefore completely and utterly fictional, you can really set it apart from another car. They aren't just transportation boxes, Mitani really writes about these cars in a very individual manner, you can really imagine yourself driving a little K-car, or a mildly quick sportscar or even the unimaginably powerful prototype.

He's the same when it comes to environment and location, whether that be describing locations of buildings in Tokyo or even the surrounding area of either Fuji Speedway overlooked by Mount Fuji or the endless sea of horrific looking paint at Paul Ricard, with an airport right next to it.

These little details could come across as annoying to the average reader, but in truth it adds so much more to the story, it really immerses you in the world. Not only that, during the Kamita announcement - no spoilers, go read the book - I was pretty damn happy with what I was reading! It offers a peak further into the world that Mitani has built, and I kind of wished we could see more of what he teased us with there. I hate being so cryptic about it, I do apologise but I just don't want to spoil the surprise, even if overall that element isn't a huge part of the story.

As for the story itself, Mitani knows exactly how to write intrigue and action, normally action in written descriptive form is very weak and whilst it tries to pull you in, normally it falls flat. Mitani on the other hand, he never fails to keep you reading, even in the calmer parts of the novel, it never has inconsistent flow and you're not trying to wade through these slower parts in preparation for the next big action scene. The way Mitani writes it, the story lends itself incredibly well to visual media, like a graphic novel or on the screen, more on that later.

Now I mentioned how Rush really impacted me and that The Prototype did so as well in a very similar manner. I bring this up because something I've already mentioned about The Prototype, is that it takes a lot of elements of thrillers and allows the audience who are that of a thriller loving disposition, but allows the story to ring familiar with those who love motor vehicles and thus it bridges a gap between those two audiences.

The reason I mention this is because the story also contains some twists, quite farfetched ones that maybe you'll read and be like "Really?", and that isn't me trying to criticise it. Being someone who doesn't get to identify and enjoy a lot of media to do with cars and motorsport, having something which does retain a lot of familiar elements within the genre but allows me to also read about it as a motoring enthusiast, it's something I really appreciate. Maybe your average thriller loving avid reader would be tired of the oversaturated elements within these novels, maybe they'll call it formulaic, but I as someone who doesn't get to read a lot of stories like this, it felt great to feel legitimised, exactly like when I sat in the auditorium for the first time in late 2013 to watch Rush.

I hope I put that last paragraph well. The last thing I want to do is call this book predictable or formulaic, because it really isn't. It's familiar, and assuring, it's not out of place among a plethora of other renowned thriller novels.

So overall, I absolutely loved The Prototype, and I appreciate Sam Mitani. He follows me on Twitter now and we have exchanged words before, I think he likes having a very vocal supporter and I assure everyone, he's very down to earth and is just honoured to be in the position that he is in.

Right I want to talk momentarily about something I touched briefly upon, and this is how Sam started following me in the first place, I mentioned that this novel would work well on a screen, and in the case I am about to talk about, a movie.

Now I know I've had this sort of belief about a novel being made into a movie before whether that be the Megan series by Mary Hooper, or The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. But as naïve as I may sound, I'm absolutely positive about the possibilities with this one even if I acknowledge the potential hurdles. So I tried unsuccessfully to get the attention of beloved actor Ken Jeong - who appeared recently in a movie called Crazy Rich Asians - on Twitter with as much as I could say in 280 characters about The Prototype.

I mention Crazy Rich Asians there because I know how important that movie is. With Sam Mitani being Asian-American and the characters in this story being mostly either of Eastern descent or directly from Far East Asia, a movie about these characters would require some Asian talent both in front and behind the camera. Unfortunately, there is a stigma or some hesitation from big Hollywood studios to steer clear of stories made about characters who are minorities, and even taking Asian derived stories and completely whitewashing them. But as we are thankfully approaching a future now where representation will certainly become the norm, The Prototype has come along at the right time for a movie to be made about it and it be an attractive option for studios.

Crazy Rich Asians was adapted from a 2013 novel of the same name by an author named Kevin Kwan and it was greeted to glowing reception, so the movie rights were picked up by Warner Bros after a heated battle with Netflix in 2016. The movie was directed by Jon M. Chu, whose work that went before was never really that of a glowing filmography but the reception was incredible, both critically and financially, with it making $238.5M on a $30M production budget. This success has guaranteed that the two follow-ups to Crazy Rich Asians - 2015's China Rich Girlfriend and 2017's Rich People's Problems - are also being adapted for the big screen.

With Crazy Rich Asians paving the way for Asian representation in media, a movie based on The Prototype and the themes that it possesses can open more doors for this to become the norm, with the themes of The Prototype being more thriller-based (a genre which typically gets more butts on the seats in the movie auditorium), studios may be more inclined to put the money behind this.

I even have Henry Golding from Crazy Rich Asians in mind to portray Stockton Clay, his career is on the up and he's well on his way to potentially becoming a solidified star of movies, and a movie like The Prototype could be well what he needs to kickstart that career leap into movement. I know I have people in mind for the other characters, like Tao Okamoto of 'The Wolverine' fame as the character Maki Takano, and Ken Watanabe as Tetsuro Kanda, and many more in mind but for the life of me, I wish I could remember the names of the characters but I do remember visioning people like Donnie Yen and Joel Kinnaman in the some specific roles. That last one being for the Russian agent because of how intimidating he was in Child 44.

The faith I have in this story is unbreakable and I am fully confident that this will make a great and successful movie, I don't know what detailing it here will do for the cause but I just need to say it. I had a brief talk at one point with Mitani a few months ago telling him about something, that being if he could have Kazunori Yamauchi - since he's quite friendly with him - recreate the very car that is featured within the story, in Gran Turismo. If a movie was indeed ever made, maybe as a part of the marketing, Polyphony could indeed recreate the Kamita prototype in either the current Gran Turismo title or a future installment depending on when the movie is green-lit and which GT game is out by then.

Anyway I know this is called a book review and I have just rambled nonsensically about all that but if you know me by now, this is what you have come to expect of me. But I do hope nonetheless that you enjoyed what I had to say and that you feel inclined to pick up a copy of The Prototype. If you want to do so, here's a link that will undoubtedly help you with that. - https://www.amazon.com/Prototype-Should-Existed-Depends-Survival/dp/1641369760

As for Sam himself, he's rather active on Twitter so go follow him @SamMitani and stay tuned to what he has planned next, he tells me he's already hard at work on his next project though for obvious reasons, I know about as much as you regarding what it's about. Even though I tried to suggest to him that he be the one to write a novel about a GT Academy winner, whether he does or not, who knows? I am confident that he will be writing about something to do with cars, and well, that's all the assurance I need.

Alright! That'll be all from me, thank you ever so much for reading. If you like what you see here and want to see more, either drop your email into the 'Follow By Email' option in the top right if you're on desktop, or follow me on Twitter @TheLucaFormat or even both! You can do whatever, it's a free country, maybe, to an extent. Hope to see you all back here soon.

Until we meet again.
Luca.